1. You may identify the stasis in the play but it isn’t necessarily at the beginning of the play. Where is it and who does it involve? The stasis takes place as David speaks out against ‘yellow face’ in Miss Saigon and attempts to find an Asian-American actor to star in his play ‘Face Value’. The stasis ends with David’s accidental casting of a white man in an Asian role.
2. Ball points out that the intrusion sometimes occurs late in the dramatic action. What is the intrusion that breaks the stasis and how is it broken? The intrusion of the play occurs when David mistakenly casts Marcus for an Asian American role, not knowing that he was actually white. This mistake lays the foundation for the dramatic action which ultimately results in David and Marcus’ final confession at the end of the play in order to save Mr. Hwang.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place? Hint: what is the heart of the play? How does the title figure in this? This is the day that David Henry Hwang decides to speak out against “yellow-face” in Miss Saigon. This decision sets him up for the irony of accidentally casting a white man in an Asian role and ultimately sets up most of the play’s dramatic action.
4. State the dramatic question that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.) As the play develops, the intrusion and Marcus’ growing popularity lead the audience to ask the following questions: ‘Does Marcus eventually get found out?’ and ‘How is David going to save face amidst all the chaos?’. By the end of the play, the audience realizes that these two questions are tied together; as a solution to save his father, David decides to sacrifice ‘face’ and asks Marcus to publically confess. By going public with his true identity, Marcus invalidates the government’s Asian-American witch-hunt and ultimately saves David’s father from biased investigation and persecution.
5. Use Hwang’s “character” to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, ie. The dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what these particular characters wants. The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles facing each of the lawyers. Throughout Yellow Face, David is presented with many social issues about cultural heritage. Despite wanting to speak out against many of the stereotypes and cultural infringements, David finds himself wrapped up in a mistake that stale-mates him until he confesses to it at the end of the play. In essence, David faces both internal obstacles (the disparity between his opinions and his actions & his desire to ‘save face’) as well as external ones (Marcus and the internal turmoil within David that he represents). At the beginning of the play, the audience witnesses David battling against his own fears. David constantly battles internally between wanting to speak out against various social debates and issues (regarding the Asian-American community) and being too afraid of tarnishing his reputation (David against himself). Essentially, throughout this entire play, which revolves around the concept of self-identity, David struggles against his fear of judgment to do what he knows is right. Ultimately, David is forced to overcome his fears and close the gap between who he is (afraid to speak out) and who he wants to be (an active voice in and for the Asian-American community) in order to help his father. In addition to fighting against his own fears of public ridicule, David also fights against his desires to maintain his pride (David against himself). While David’s reconciliation of the two opposing aspects of his identity (who he is vs. who he wants to be) leads to the fulfillment of one goal, it comes at the cost of another: his pride (A.K.A. ‘his urge to save face’). After casting Marcus as an Asian-American in his play ‘Face Value’, David learns that Marcus is actually white. In order to ‘save face’, David covers up his lie which ultimately leads to the ‘creation’ of ‘Marcus Gee’. Now a public activist in the Asian-American community, Marcus becomes the embodiment of David’s lie, a pride-wounding liability. As the play progresses, events turn and the two men must sacrifice their ‘face’ and publically confess to their farce in order to save David’s father. Ultimately, David swallows his pride and sacrifices ‘face’ in order to help his father. In addition to fighting against his own fears and pride, David struggles to overcome his issues with Marcus (David against another individual). Marcus as a character is a walking wound to David’s pride as well as a reminder of David’s failure, being the one who benefited from David’s humiliating mistake. Despite trying to avoid Marcus, David finds that their fates are too intertwined to do so. Ironically, as it turns out, Marcus is actually part of the resolution that keeps Mr. Hwang out of prison. Eventually, Marcus reveals to the audience that he is actually a made up character, further enforcing the concept that Marcus is indeed an extension of David’s character whose purpose is to highlight David’s flaws: his inability to reconcile what he wants with his inhibitory pride.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Yellow Face. The most theatrical moment in Yellow Face is at the end of the play when the audience learns that Marcus is an invented character. In addition to shocking the audience, it also becomes clear that Marcus’ character was meant to stretch and bend the conventional concepts of identity, specifically race and ethnicity. Essentially, the purpose of Marcus’ character is to pose the question David’s character addresses earlier in the play regarding race potentially as a mythological concept.
The stasis takes place as David speaks out against ‘yellow face’ in Miss Saigon and attempts to find an Asian-American actor to star in his play ‘Face Value’. The stasis ends with David’s accidental casting of a white man in an Asian role.
2. Ball points out that the intrusion sometimes occurs late in the dramatic action. What is the intrusion that breaks the stasis and how is it broken?
The intrusion of the play occurs when David mistakenly casts Marcus for an Asian American role, not knowing that he was actually white. This mistake lays the foundation for the dramatic action which ultimately results in David and Marcus’ final confession at the end of the play in order to save Mr. Hwang.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place? Hint: what is the heart of the play? How does the title figure in this?
This is the day that David Henry Hwang decides to speak out against “yellow-face” in Miss Saigon. This decision sets him up for the irony of accidentally casting a white man in an Asian role and ultimately sets up most of the play’s dramatic action.
4. State the dramatic question that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
As the play develops, the intrusion and Marcus’ growing popularity lead the audience to ask the following questions: ‘Does Marcus eventually get found out?’ and ‘How is David going to save face amidst all the chaos?’. By the end of the play, the audience realizes that these two questions are tied together; as a solution to save his father, David decides to sacrifice ‘face’ and asks Marcus to publically confess. By going public with his true identity, Marcus invalidates the government’s Asian-American witch-hunt and ultimately saves David’s father from biased investigation and persecution.
5. Use Hwang’s “character” to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, ie. The dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what these particular characters wants. The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles facing each of the lawyers.
Throughout Yellow Face, David is presented with many social issues about cultural heritage. Despite wanting to speak out against many of the stereotypes and cultural infringements, David finds himself wrapped up in a mistake that stale-mates him until he confesses to it at the end of the play. In essence, David faces both internal obstacles (the disparity between his opinions and his actions & his desire to ‘save face’) as well as external ones (Marcus and the internal turmoil within David that he represents).
At the beginning of the play, the audience witnesses David battling against his own fears. David constantly battles internally between wanting to speak out against various social debates and issues (regarding the Asian-American community) and being too afraid of tarnishing his reputation (David against himself). Essentially, throughout this entire play, which revolves around the concept of self-identity, David struggles against his fear of judgment to do what he knows is right. Ultimately, David is forced to overcome his fears and close the gap between who he is (afraid to speak out) and who he wants to be (an active voice in and for the Asian-American community) in order to help his father.
In addition to fighting against his own fears of public ridicule, David also fights against his desires to maintain his pride (David against himself). While David’s reconciliation of the two opposing aspects of his identity (who he is vs. who he wants to be) leads to the fulfillment of one goal, it comes at the cost of another: his pride (A.K.A. ‘his urge to save face’). After casting Marcus as an Asian-American in his play ‘Face Value’, David learns that Marcus is actually white. In order to ‘save face’, David covers up his lie which ultimately leads to the ‘creation’ of ‘Marcus Gee’. Now a public activist in the Asian-American community, Marcus becomes the embodiment of David’s lie, a pride-wounding liability. As the play progresses, events turn and the two men must sacrifice their ‘face’ and publically confess to their farce in order to save David’s father. Ultimately, David swallows his pride and sacrifices ‘face’ in order to help his father.
In addition to fighting against his own fears and pride, David struggles to overcome his issues with Marcus (David against another individual). Marcus as a character is a walking wound to David’s pride as well as a reminder of David’s failure, being the one who benefited from David’s humiliating mistake. Despite trying to avoid Marcus, David finds that their fates are too intertwined to do so. Ironically, as it turns out, Marcus is actually part of the resolution that keeps Mr. Hwang out of prison. Eventually, Marcus reveals to the audience that he is actually a made up character, further enforcing the concept that Marcus is indeed an extension of David’s character whose purpose is to highlight David’s flaws: his inability to reconcile what he wants with his inhibitory pride.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Yellow Face.
The most theatrical moment in Yellow Face is at the end of the play when the audience learns that Marcus is an invented character. In addition to shocking the audience, it also becomes clear that Marcus’ character was meant to stretch and bend the conventional concepts of identity, specifically race and ethnicity. Essentially, the purpose of Marcus’ character is to pose the question David’s character addresses earlier in the play regarding race potentially as a mythological concept.